Blended Online Discussions

Using online discussions are form on blended learning.
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I remember when I was 13 years old spending the night at my friend's house and we logged in to an AOL chat room in an effort hopefully talk to some girls.  WHO KNOWS who we were actually talking to, and thankfully it was completely harmless, but I remember at the time thinking it was so amazing that we could be chatting with someone anywhere on the planet.  Those were the early days of the Internet.

Now we take these types of communication for granted as digital communication has become ubiquitous.  I think many people associate online communication such as instant messaging, social media, comments on an online article, or online forums such as  Reddit, as being some kind of devolved form of communication. No one uses proper grammar or punctuation. Everyone seems to be trolling one another or looking to prove something. And it's anything but better than real communication.

Yet, while in person communication is essential, I'd argue that online discussions can be potentially better than purely in-person communication alone,  especially when the two are blended together. 

What's more? Leveraging online discussions in the classroom and outside, teaches students important digital citizenship skills that will actually help them when they venture into those perilous digital communication platforms.

In this post I'd like to discuss ways a teacher can use an online discussion, and blend that with their own class discussions.  Specifically, since our school uses Canvas, I'll discuss how to use the Canvas Discussion feature. Embedded are some 1CoolThing videos demonstrating how to do the nuts and bolts of the discussion.

Why Online Discussions?
As I eluded to in my intro, online communication is everywhere, so like it or not, online discussion is a common practice.  As teachers, it's important for us to be current and relevant for our students.  Beyond that though, here are the reasons I think we should consider using online discussions:

1. (Digital) Citizenship: Just like we teach our students how to behave, communicate, and generally conduct themselves in a group setting, we need to teach them how to do this in a digital space.  How we behave in person should be the same online.
2. Online vs. In Person:  Don't fall into the trap of thinking online discussion or in person discussions are mutually exclusive! You can do both, and there in lies the true power of online discussions.  You can either extend a meaningful conversation from class into a digital one, or start a conversation online, and then go deeper in person.
3. Model Proper Use of Tech: We can model for students how to leverage technology in appropriate and powerful methods.  Online communication doesn't have to be a bunch of arguing or sharing nonsense.  We can have deep, thoughtful, and appropriate conversations online.
4. Go Deeper: In a previous post I wrote about how to promote greater equity in conversations.  Near the end I discussed how to up the ante and push students to go deeper in their conversations.  Well, using an online discussion tool can make a discussion much deeper because online discussions allow people to share links such articles and videos.  
5. More Thoughtful and Accurate: Ever been in a discussion with someone and you feel like they're just making statistics up? Ever finish a conversation and think, "man I should have said...."?  In an online discussion, you have time to think before commenting, and have the ability support what you say with links to sources. As a teacher, facilitating a discussion, you can require students to not only speak to your prompts, but justify with evidence. 
6. Online Learning: Chances are high our students will take an online class one day. This will inevitably have online discussions.  Let's prepare them for this kind of learning
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Nuts and Bolts: How to Do It:

First, since you have the rich text editor, you have the ability to embed videos, link to anything in Canvas or webpage, embed math equations, add photos/GIFs, and much more.  Here's a video describing all the different things you can do with the Rich Text Editor.

Having all of these options allows you as the teacher to spark the conversation or give something thought provoking.  Before doing an online discussion, you need to have a conversation about how to conduct yourself in on an online discussion.  Then, you need to type the exact same guidelines in your instructions.  My advice: 

• Be clear about how much or how little you want them to write.
• If you want them to provide links, tell them.
• If you want them to comment (which is kind of the point right?) Give them guidelines on how to comment appropriately.  Here are my generic guidelines I use. I think I stole them from someone at some point (sorry!).

• Remember the following when making posts:
• All comments are appropriate and on topic. This is not a chat room. The same respect  expected in person is expected online too.
• All comments are written in complete sentences with correct conventions.
• All comments follow the 7 tips:
• Give a compliment (What was a good idea? Why?
• Add new information
• Make a connection to the writer
• Advice or suggestion to the writer to help them meet their goals
• End with a question
• Proofread and sign your name
• If a post already has three comments, you must choose another post to comment on. The goal is for each post to have at least three comments. Once you have posted 3 comments, and if everyone else's posts has 3 comments, then you may comment on another post. 

Here's my video of how to create the Canvas Discussion:

Blended and Online Pedagogy

Remember, we're not using technology (in this case, and online discussion) just because we can. We're trying to enhance, or transform, what we do in ways that are better than what we could have done without the technology.  Here are some pedagogical ways you can use online discussions.

1. Anticipatory Set: 

Show a thought provoking video clip, GIF, or article.  In science, this could be a phenomena.  In math this could be counterintuitive equation/problem. In English or Social Studies, this could be thought provoking quote or passage.  Ask students to interact with that content, and then share their thoughts.  Setting the preferences such that they can't view comments before commenting themselves, minimizes the copy cat effect.

At the start of class, show these comments on your projector and discuss themes, misunderstandings, or whatever came up that you want to discuss. Use this as launching off point for what you plan to do for the day.

OR 

Have students read and ask them to come up with themes or overlap. You can have them share in person in small groups, and then as a larger group. In this way you have started something online, and are now blending it into your class.

2. Formative Assessment: Just teach them something? Now use the Discussion feature to apply what they learned: 

"Ok class, now go to the online discussion for the day and share an example of this concept in real life.  This is your exit ticket, so do this before you leave today. Tonight for homework, you will comment on 3 posts.  Use the guidelines on the discussion to make your comments meaningful and appropriate."

See how this can extend and blend what you did in class into the digital space?  Not only can it be graded (ie accountability), but gives students opportunity to think and see what others are thinking.  It builds community because they communicating with peers outside of class in appropriate ways.

3. Progressively Deeper Conversations and Work:  

Similar to #1, give them something to read, watch or do, ahead of time.  In terms of Blooms Taxonomy, have your prompts be something that is recall based or understanding.  Then, get them into smaller groups in class. Print out the discussion, or have them read through the discussion on the computer for 5-10 min.  This helps refresh their memory, and consider things they missed. A quick share out, with you highlighting the essential understandings, helps make sure everyone is on the same page.

Now hit them with new prompts that require them to apply or analyze.  Perhaps each group gets a different application or analysis with the same concept.  An example of this could be a case study. Give each group a different case study.  Ask them to discuss these in person and apply what they've learned.  Here you as the facilitator can help them as they get into the more challenging work.   Have students share out what came up in their discussions.  Now everyone is learning from each other and reinforcing the foundational understandings.  Perhaps this then transitions into an activity or longer term project that requires them to evaluate or create.

4. Video Discussions.  

Discussions don't just have to be in writing.  Depending on the goals of your assignment, maybe it's more appropriate to let students record a video of their comments. Maybe you want a video, with a link to a source.  Maybe you want to give them the choice of writing or recording.  Canvas Discussions allow you to record video within the discussion using the built in camera on the laptop.  Same ideas listed above, but now you have a video component.  You can also use FlipGrid for this kind of thing. I love Flipgrid. Here's a post I wrote about how to use Flipgrid.  Hey it also links with Canvas. Hurrah!

5. Updates and Sharing Work

Are students working on a long term project? Want to know if they're making progress?  Periodically, have them give a status update on a discussion.  Have them provide a quick link as proof of their progress.  They can also use this as an opportunity to pose challenges they're experiencing, and you can structure the process to have them comment on each other's posts and help them solve their problems.

At the end of the project, students can Share their final work and comment on each other's work.  Online discussions are a great opportunity for students to share something they've done (eg a video, blog post, Google Doc, etc.) and then have classmates comment.  Seeing other posts helps student gain a collective understanding of what others have done.

Moderating

A frequent question I've gotten is, "how do I moderate this?" or "What happens if students are writing inappropriate things?"  To that I would respond, how do you moderate in-class discussions? What happens if a students says something inappropriate in class?  Chances are you have rules in place in class, and it's just a matter of articulating to the the class that how they conduct themselves online should be no different than how they conduct themselves in class.  Consequences should be the same. What's more, districts, including our own have some sort of acceptable use policy that all students must accept.  Here's ours.  If you're worried about it, perhaps you always link this in your discussions or at least spend time at the beginning of the year discussing it.

The Bottom Line

Thankfully we've come a long way since those early chat rooms.  Now online forms of communication are everywhere and come in many forms. Our students are using them daily, and will continue throughout their life. It's not going away.  We as teachers have the opportunity to leverage this technology in powerful ways.  We have the creativity and knowhow to push students to think deeply. Whether it's engaging our students before they even come to class, or getting them to extend what they learn after they leave, online discussions can be a powerful tool in teaching.  Why not use online discussions, in a blended manner, to push our student to go deeper and learn more?  

Do you use online discussions? Have another idea of how to do it? Share your thoughts or ideas in the comments!